The Divergent Franchise Is Getting A Reboot — With A Twist
Looks like we’re diverging from canon.
The early 2010s were an absolute gold rush for YA dystopian books. In the wake of Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, there were as many dystopian books in 2012 as there were vampire books in 2008. But among the many contenders like The Maze Runner, Matched, and Scythe, only one reached Hunger Games levels of cultural obsession: Divergent, the trilogy of dystopian novels by Veronica Roth.
While this book series sparked a huge fandom and a trilogy of movie adaptations, its third and final novel, Allegiant, made a risky decision that, while bold, completely divided the fanbase and, for many, soured them on the franchise entirely. But now, over a decade later, we’ll learn how that tragic end could have gone down with one single different choice.
The cover for The Sixth Faction, the first of two books exploring an alternate Divergent universe.
At BookCon 2026, Veronica Roth announced a new duology of books connected to the Divergent universe. However, they’re not what you think. “Not a prequel, not a sequel, not a spinoff, not a different POV but an alternate universe of Divergent where Tris chooses a different faction,” Roth told USA TODAY.“I think the question of ‘who is Tris without Dauntless’ is an interesting one.”
Divergent follows Beatrice “Tris” Prior, a young girl in a futuristic society where everyone is split into factions: Abnegation, the faction of selflessness; Amity, the faction of peace; Candor, the faction of honesty; Dauntless, the faction of bravery; and Erudite, the faction of intelligence. Born into Abnegation, she chooses to join Dauntless, and that choice leads to her sparking a rebellion against society as she knows it. Alongside her love interest Four, her mission goes well until Allegiant, when Tris perishes, with Four narrating the rest of the book.
This new book, entitled The Sixth Faction, will explore what would have happened if Tris didn’t have a chance to choose Dauntless at all. Instead, the synopsis teases a much more immediate issue. “In The Sixth Faction, a tragedy strikes at her Choosing Ceremony and everything changes,” USA TODAY says. “The decision she makes thrusts her into an underground rebellion, where she meets a boy hiding his own secrets. This boy? He’s described only as having a number for a name.” It’s good to know that Tris and Four find each other in every universe, or at the very least, two universes.
Theo James and Shailene Woodley played Four and Tris in the movies Divergent, Insurgent, and Allegiant.
It’s easy to see why Roth chose to revive this universe. Dystopian fiction is having another big moment, with The Hunger Games expanding its universe with two prequel novels (and subsequent movie adaptations), The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and Sunrise on the Reaping. Prequel movies won’t really make sense for Divergent, as everything had been relatively peaceful until the events of the books, and sequels and spinoffs are off the table since the reaction to Tris’ passing in Allegiant proved she’s the heart and soul of the story. It may seem convoluted, but a Sliding-Doors-esque alternate universe story is really the best way to expand the universe.
How will this version of Tris differ? What fate will society as a whole face when a Choosing Ceremony is upended like that? Could we see this new story on the big screen with a brand new cast? What once was a series that ended over a decade ago has found new life in a new canon.
